Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/537

Rh resigned in 1851, to accept the office of president- judge of the district court of Alleghany county, Pa., to which he had been elected. He published a report on the tariff that was considered an able document (Washington. 1842).

FORWOOD, William Stump, physician, b. near Darlington, Harford co., Md., 27 Jan., 1830. He studied medicine in Harford county, and was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1854, and also in the same year from Dr. Joseph Warrington's obstetric institute in Philadelphia. He began practice in Darlington, Md., and contin- ued there till 1869, when, after living in Philadel- phia till December, 1870, he removed to Gosport, Clarke co., Ala., but in 1873 returned to Darling- ton, where he still (1887) resides. In 18GG he aided in organizing the Medical society of Harford county, of which he became president, and was for several years its secretary. He also aided in the organization of the Clarke county, Ala., medical society, and was its first president. He was presi- dent of the Pennsylvania and Maryland union medical association in 1882, and is a member of many other medical societies. He was president of the Harford historical society at its organization in 1885, and still (1887) holds that office. During 1886 he read valuable papers before the society, including " The History of Harford County "and " The History of the Passage of Gen. Lafayette with his Army through Harford County in 1781." In 1867 and 1870 he made extended explorations in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, and afterward pub- lished " An Historical and Descriptive Narrative of the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky" (Philadel- phia, 1870 : 4th ed., enlarged, 1875).

FOSDICK, William Whiteman, poet, b. in Cincinnati, 28 Jan., 1825 ; d. there, 8 March, 1862. His mother, Julia Drake, was an actress. He was graduated at Transylvania University in 1845, studied law in Louisville, and began practice in Cov- ington, Ky., and afterward in Cincinnati. About this time Mr. Fosdick gained some distinction as a poet bv a drama entitled " Tecumseh." He trav- elled in Mexico in 1847-9, and from 1851 till 1858 practised law in New York city. He then returned to Ohio, and edited in Cincinnati the "Sketch Club," an illustrated paper that was supported by the artists of that city. He published " Malmiztic the Toltec," a novel (Cincinnati, 1851), and " Ariel, and other Poems " (New York, 1855).

FOSS, Cyrus David, M. E. bishop, b. in Kings- ton, N. Y., 17 Jan., 1834. His father was an itinerant Methodist preacher of Hugue- not extraction. The son was graduated at Wesleyan univer- sity in 1854, and for three years he was employed as an instructor in Ame- nia seminary, N. Y., the latter part of that time as its principal. He en- tered the travelling ministry in the New York conference in the spring of 1857, and was stationed Chester, Orange co., N.Y., in l857-'9. He was then transferred to New York east conference, and was for the next six years m the city of Brooklyn, and afterward in several churches in New York city, from 1865 till 1875. In the latter year he was elected president of Wesleyan university, and served in that office with marked ability and suc- cess till the general conference of May, 1880, when he was elected and ordained a bishop. His resi- dence has since been at Minneapolis, Minn., but his episcopal duties have called him to travel through all parts of the country, and also to visit the foreign missions of his church in Europe and in India. Bishop Foss is recognized as a man of superior abilities, an able preacher, and an earnest and de- vout Christian. He was a member of the general conference in 1872, 1876, and 1880. He received the degree of D. D. from Wesleyan university in 1870. and that of LL. D. from Cornell college, Iowa, in 1879. He has contributed to current literature, and has published sermons and addresses, includ- ing " Songs in the Night," a Thanksgiving sermon, (New York, 1862), and his inaugural address as president of Wesleyan university (1876). — Ilis bi-bther, William Jay, clergvman, b. in Verbank, N. Y., 23 Nov., 1835 ; 'd. in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 1 June, 1859, was graduated at Wesleyan university in 1856, and was a teacher in Amenia seminary, N. Y., in the same year. In 1857 he became a pas- tor of the Methodist Episcopal church in Portland, Conn., and a tutor in Wesleyan university. In 1858 he joined the New York conference, and was stationed at Lake Mahopac, N. Y., in 1859, and later in Poughkeepsie, that state.

FOSTER, Abiel, clergyman, b. in Andover, Mass., 8 Aug., 1735; d. in Canterbury. N. H., 6 Feb., 1806, was graduated at Harvard in 1756, studied theology, and was a pastor of the Congre- gational church in Canterbury, N. H., for eighteen years. After 1780 he was frequently in the New Hampshire legislature, was a delegate from that state to the Continental congress in 1783-'5, and in 1784 was appointed a judge of the court of com- mon pleas for Rockingham county, of which he be- came chief justice. He was elected a representa- tive in the 1st congress, and served from August, 1789, till March, 1791. He was a delegate to the State constitutional convention, and was president of the state senate in 1793-'4. Pie was then again elected to congress, and served from 1795 till 1803.

FOSTER, Asa Belknap, Canadian senator, b. in Dummerton, Vt., in 1817 ; d. in Montreal, Canada, 2 Nov., 1877. He was educated in Lower Canada, to which he removed in 1821, and settled in Frost Village. In 1841 he engaged in railroad construc- tion in Massachusetts, Maine, and Vermont, and on his return to Canada in 1856 engaged in the same business there. He was elected a member to the Canada assembly from Shefford county, Lower Canada, in 1858, but resigned in 1860, and was returned to the legislative council for Bedford district. After the confederation he was called to the senate of the Dominion, but retired from it in 1875, when he received the contract for the Geor- gian Bay branch of the Canadian Pacific railway.

FOSTER, Benjamin, clergyman, b. in Danvers, Mass., 12 June, 1750 ; d. in New York city, 26 Aug., 1798. He was graduated at Yale in 1774, and ordained as a Baptist minister in Leicester, Mass., in October, 1776, remaining there till 1782. He subsequently held pastorates in Danvers and Newport, and from 1788 till his death was pastor of the 1st Baptist church in New York city. He was an accomplished scholar, particularly in the Greek, Hebrew, and the Chaldean languages, and was eminent as a preacher. During the prevalence of yellow fever in 1798 in New York city, he declined to leave his post, and while visiting the sick